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Fall on global worries, outflows; Philippine worst in over a year

BANGKOK (Oct 13): The Philippine main index posted its worst drop in more than a year and the Indonesian benchmark touched the lowest closing level since July on Monday amid selling by foreign investors and concern over the health of the global economy.

The Philippine Composite Index, which gauges movements of 30 large caps, closed down 2.8 percent, its biggest single-day loss since September 2013.

Foreign investors sold shares worth a net 1.1 billion peso ($24.58 million), mainly in large caps, led by shares of Energy Development Corp and Philippine Long Distance Telephone, stock exchange data showed.

"Fears of a global economic slowdown caused the markets to go down," said Miguel Agarao, investment analyst at Wealth Securities Inc in Manila.

Agarao said since the Philippine share market was not as liquid as its peers, selling by foreign funds had a bigger impact.

"This is not healthy. We expected a correction, but nothing like this," he said. Foreigners dumped local stocks, sending the benchmark below the key 7,000 support level, he said.

It closed at 6,968.09, the lowest since Aug. 11.

Jakarta's composite index ended down for a second session, falling by 1 percent to 4,913.05, its lowest since July 4. Among losers, coal mining stock Adaro Energy plunged 7.3 percent as declining oil prices weighed on energy related stocks across the region.